Manchester United suffered a £118.1m loss in revenues, down to £509m from £627.1m, for the financial year ending in June 2019, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic a major factor. Accounts released on Wednesday also showed that United have paid a £23m dividend again, which mostly goes to the Glazer family that owns the club. The revenue drop is an 18.8% downturn for the 12 months, with the last financial quarter showing a 38% reduction – £131.4m to £81.5m. The club estimates that £70m of revenue lost across the year can be attributed to the pandemic. “We expect the impact to remain visible for quite some time to come,” Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, said. United made a net £18.9m profit in 2018-19 and a net £23.2m loss in the most recent financial year. The final-quarter results include the three-month football lockdown. Once competition resumed United had only one home Premier League game, two away matches and an FA Cup quarter-final – also away – before the end of June. All were played behind closed doors. The club said: “This significantly impacted fiscal 2020 broadcasting revenue, recognised when home and away matches are played, and matchday revenue, given the remaining matches have been played behind closed doors. Furthermore, broadcasting revenues have been significantly impacted by rebates due to broadcasters following disruption of the 2019-20 competitions.” Net debt more than doubled from the previous year to £474.1m, which the club said reflected the impact of deferred sponsorship payments of £80m, the loss of advance matchday revenue for 2020-21 which would typically be more than £50m before a Champions League season and an increase in player investment. Woodward said getting fans safely back into stadiums was a priority and spoke publicly regarding United’s involvement in a plan to redraw the football pyramid via Project Big Picture, which was not successful. “We strongly believe in supporting the English football pyramid, both in the short term, to address the issues created by Covid-19, and in the long term to improve financial sustainability at all levels of the game,” he said. “There will always be intense debate around any changes to the structure of football, just as there was before the formation of the Premier League 28 years ago. Now, at this critical juncture for the game, we must ensure that the huge success of the Premier League is reinforced while ensuring that the wider football pyramid continues to thrive … We are pleased that the Premier League has committed to work together on a plan for the future structures and financing of English football. Now it must deliver on that promise, and we are committed to playing a leading role.” On Tuesday it emerged that plans for a lucrative breakaway European Premier League had been revived. “I saw reports,” Woodward said. “Don’t know where it came from.” Addressing issues on the pitch he said: “We will never be satisfied at Manchester United unless we are winning trophies. But our third-place finish in the Premier League and strong cup runs last season showed that, while there is more hard work ahead and the path is not always smooth, we are making progress. We have a clear strategy under Ole [Gunnar Solskjær] to build a successful, committed team, with a core of homegrown talent blended with high-quality recruits, that plays fast flowing, attacking football.” Woodward added that net investment in new players since summer 2019 was “over €200m – more, I believe, than any other major European club over that time period” and stated: “We are investing and will continue to invest to back the manager.”